Abhanga 2635
I will make a bundle of my own (kulācāra) — and bow to everyone's feet, seeing no place-distinctions. I will not let the samādhāna break — let all people stop. Tukā: until the jhāḍā (audit-statement) happens, I do not abandon this direction.
The verse
आपुल्यांचा करीन मोळा । माझ्या कुळाचारांचा ॥१॥
अवघियांचे वंदिन पाय । ठायाठाय न देखें ॥ध्रु.॥
नेदीं तुटों समाधान । थांबों जन सकळ ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे झाडा होय । तों हे सोय न संडीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
I will make a bundle (mōḷā) of my own people — of my kulācāra (family-tradition-practice). I will bow to the feet of everyone — seeing no place-distinctions. I will not let the samādhāna (settled-comfort) break — let all people pause. Tukā says: until the jhāḍā (audit, settling-of-accounts) happens, I do not abandon this sōya (direction, course).
What it means
A short practice-statement verse. Āpulyāñchā karīna mōḷā — mājhyā kulācārāñchā — I will make a bundle of my own — of my family-tradition practice. Mōḷā (bundle) — a packed-together-portable carrying-bundle. Kulācāra — family-tradition-practice — the inherited mode of daily-religious-life. Tukārām declares his commitment to carry his family-tradition as a bundle.
The dhrūpada is the practice: avaghiyāñchē vandina pāya — ṭhāyā-ṭhāya na dēkhēm — I will bow to everyone's feet — seeing no place-distinctions. Ṭhāyā-ṭhāya — place-by-place, this-place-and-that-place — refers to caste-position, status-position, social-place. Na dēkhēm — I do not see — the practice of refusing to register these distinctions. This is a strong Vārkarī-egalitarian statement: bow to everyone's feet, see no distinctions.
The middle verse: nēdī tuṭōm samādhāna — thāmbōm jana sakaḷa — I will not let the samādhāna break — let all people pause. Samādhāna (settled-comfort, calm-resolution) — Tukārām commits to keeping it intact. Thāmbōm jana sakaḷa — let all people pause — could mean let all people stop and wait or I will wait for all people. Either way, it is a not-rushing-past-others stance.
The close: jhāḍā hōya — tōm hē sōya na saṇḍī — until the jhāḍā happens — I do not abandon this sōya. Jhāḍā — the final audit-statement, the closing-of-accounts (often at death, or at the end of a vow-period). Sōya — direction, course, way. Tukārām's commitment: this practice continues until the final account-settling.
For someone today
The verse hands you a small daily-discipline-package: carry your family-tradition-practice as a portable bundle; bow to everyone's feet seeing no place-distinctions; do not let samādhāna break in the assembly; let all people pause; and do not abandon this direction until the jhāḍā. The committed-until-the-end clause is important — this is not a fashion or a phase. Sōya na saṇḍī — do not abandon the course — until the account-settling actually happens.
Where this applies
- A daily Vārkarī-discipline of bowing-to-everyone without registering rank
- Carrying family-tradition-practice as a portable bundle (kulācāra-mōḷā)
- The not-rushing-past-others stance of let all people pause
- The until-the-jhāḍā commitment that distinguishes practice from phase